Crimson Fate
by TheUltimateMurtaghFan
Summary: What if Saphira I never died? What would've change in Murtagh's life if Morzan was still alive? R&R! Rated T to be safe.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Murtagh, Morzan or any one else in this story.  
**

**Prologue  
**

Murtagh ran happily through the enormous gardens at Morzans castle, which could be found somewhere between Uru'baen and Tüdosten Lake, but no one who never had been there could tell for certain. After Murtagh came a laughing, beautiful woman. She wasn't old, but there was something about her that made her seem… different, and beyond her years. A look in her eyes revealed that she had seen and done things, evil things, that you couldn't tell from the first look. She was a strange woman indeed.

The woman's name was Selena, and she had long, brown hair. To most people she was just Morzan's Black Hand, but to Murtagh she was a loving and caring mother, and even though he almost never got a chance to see her, he loved her more deeply than he loved any other human being.

The four-year-old dark-haired boy turned around and ran towards her. Selena smiled happily and caught him, only to wrestle him playfully down on the ground and tickle him until he cried by laughter and delight. Then she let go and Murtagh immediately got up on his feet again. He eyed Selena with a playful glint in his eyes, then he turned away to continue to run through the gardens.

Selena smiled as she watched him play. She couldn't believe it was the same boy who had med cut open from shoulder to hip by Zar'roc just a year ago. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought. Murtagh had been so close to dying that day. The healers had barely been able to heal him – he still had the horrible scar across his back. Selena wiped the tears away. How could Morzan had done that to their only son? Sure, he had been drunk, and he always did violent things when he was drunk, but still, it was their _son_. She shook her head. Morzan would probably never change, but she would still love him.

Murtagh had continued to run even though Selena had stopped. He laughed out loud and tried to jump over a low bush, but failed and fell on the grass. He lay still for a second and looked a bit surprised, but then he heard a low purring sound and the fall was forgotten. He watched amused as a little black kitten looked out of the bush he had tried to jump over. The cat purred and walked slowly over to him. Carefully Murtagh reached out with his hand and scratched it behind the ears. The kitten meowed and the purring grew louder. The young boy chuckled quietly and started to talk to the cat about random stuff that popped up in his head.

Morzan walked out of the castle, and he looked angry. Some of the servants that worked close by moved quietly away from him. In fact, he was _very_ angry. He had just had a very long meeting with Kialandí, who had told him about the most recent Varden activities. According to the reports, the Varden had killed Formora, and her brown dragon, which were very upsetting news. Since when had the Varden the power to destroy a Rider? Was it Brom's and Saphira's work? Could they kill another one of the Forsworn if they weren't careful?

Annoyed by these questions that refused to leave his head, he looked around and spotted Selena.

She flinched with a surprised look on her face when she heard his voice.

"I have another mission for you."

Selena's expression changed to a mix between sadness and anger.

"But I just came back! Can't I get to spend a little time with Murtagh?" she begged.

Morzan eyed her angrily and then he reached out with his right hand and gave her a hard slap in the face, and then he heard Murtagh's low chuckle a bit away and started to walk quickly against him.

"Selena, get inside."

"But I…"

"Now!"

Selena didn't dare speak up against him, not when he was this angry. Every inch of her wanted to grab Murtagh and run away, but she knew that it would only make it worse. With a look of defeat on her face, she turned away and started to walk towards the castle.

Morzan went straight to Murtagh, who stopped petting the cat with a horrified expression.

"What are you doing?" Morzan asked furiously.

"I-I was j-just playing with the c-cat." Murtagh answered with a frightened voice.

Morzan gave the kitten a quick look, and then:

"_Deyja_".

The cat gave a quick, pained squeak, and then it stopped breathing.

Morzan grabbed a knife that hung in his belt, with a blood-red blade that matched Zar'roc perfectly, and then he bent down and grabbed Murtagh by the collar and lifted him a few feet over the ground. Murtagh shivered in fear and tried to break loose, but Morzan barked "_Letta!_" and Murtagh froze. Quickly Morzan moved the knife forward and cut into the boy's skin, then he realised the spell and let go of Murtagh who fell into the ground with a hard thump, then he left without a word. Murtagh was shaking and when he lifted his head to watch the figure of his disappearing father, a deep, bleeding cut was visible right over his left eye.

_Three days later_

Morzan quickly mounted his blood red dragon, Odium**(A/N: Comes from the latin word for hate)** and with a quick look on Selena, who gave him a worried look and softly said:

"Be careful.", he carefully opened up his mind to allow the impatient Odium to entrance.

"_Ready?"_ The enormous dragon asked.

"_**Of course."**_

"_Let's go then."_

Without waiting for an answer, Odium took a great leap into the air and soon they were flying with great speed trough the seemingly endless sky.

Both dragon and rider were very relaxed, and as they hadn't had to worry about anything since the Fall, especially this close to Uru'baen, they did not pay attention to what was happening around them. After about an hour of eventless flying towards Gil'ead, an enormous

power hit them and Odium nearly crashed to the ground. When Morzan and his dragon had gained air again, they began to search with both eyes and minds for the attacker, and soon Odium gave a furious roar.

"_Varden warriors, maybe two miles south."_ he angrily snapped.

Morzan drew Zar'roc, ready to slay whoever came in his way. Then he gazed upwards, and what he saw nearly made him fall out of Odium's saddle by pure surprise. Racing towards them through the air, came a beautiful, blue dragoness. A beautiful, blue dragoness with Brom on her back.

Morzan growled and raised Zar'roc, and Brom as drew Undbitr, Saphira gave a roar that would frighten even the bravest man in Alagësia. Odium watched with a bitter silence and noted how muck she had grown since the last time they fought. Of course, it was to be expected that she was almost as big as him, as it had almost been one hundred years since the Fall, but still, it was quite unnerving.

Before the two dragons attacked, both Morzan and Brom noticed that the Varden warriors soon would reach them, which made Brom grin triumphantly.

No words were exchanged, or needed. There was simply not much to say between the two Riders.

Odium roared out a challenge and then they crashed into each other. The battle would've been completely impossible to follow with a human eye, but an elf might would've manage it. Morzan blocked, parried, cut and hit, but somehow he could not touch Brom – his magical wards were to strong, and Morzan didn't have any Eldunarí to take strength from, and he soon grew tired. He hadn't thought that he would need an extra power source just to fly to Gil'ead, so the ruby on Zar'roc held very little energy, while Aren and the sapphire on Undbitr seemed to be filled to the edge. Brom gave Morzan a deep cut on his swords arm, which made him drop Zar'roc. He glanced down, and saw that the Varden soldiers were less then a half mile away from them. He quietly swore as he dodged another blow from Brom, and muttered "_Jierda!_". Brom made a surprised and pained sound when one of his ribs broke, and Morzan smirked.

"Seriously Morzan, was that the most creative you could come up with? I think you're loosing your touch." Brom laughed and Saphira snorted. "_Waíse Heill!_"

Odium growled loudly and Saphira reached out with her front paw and tried to hit him.

"Were have you been hiding by the way? In Farthen Dur?" Morzan snapped.

"Of course, were else?" Brom smirked. "Still haven't found the entrance, Morzan? Getting slow?"

"I have more important things to do with my time to looking for entrances to a little stone town with an old grey-haired idiot in it. Besides, my four-year-old kid could probably find it!"

Brom stiffened. "Kid?"

Morzan smiled madly when he thought on the events three days before.

"Yeah, he looks just like me, you know! Though he has a scar over his left eye… Smart kid, he didn't make a sound when I gave it to hi…"

Morzan was cut of by Odium, who threw himself aside to avoid an arrow, but he was to slow and it hit his wing. The red dragon roared and spun around, hitting Saphira and Brom with his long, spiked tail when he did so.

Morzan looked down and spotted the soldiers from the Varden. They had reached the two Riders now, and some of them raised their bows and arrows to fire.

"Barzúl!"

Morzan swore, then Odium decided that it was time to go and took off into the sky with one last look at Saphira. Blood streamed from the wounds that ha had med with his tail, and she had landed beside the Varden warriors. Brom had dismounted and was healing her.

Morzan told him to hurry up and they flew with high speed towards Gil'ead.

**Review please! This is by the way the first fanfic I've ever written, so tell what you think!**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N **

**Bluetadpole1300: Thanks for the review! I know grammar isn't very good and it's very different from Swedish, which makes it rather hard, but I try. I really appreciate the kind words!:)**

**Shurtugal88: Thank you, it's really nice to hear that you liked it! I know Morzan's dragon didn't have a name in the book and was "unnameable", but I wanted him to have a name in this story, and it seems so boring to just write "Morzan's dragon" all the time. Thank you so much for the positive respond!**

Chapter One - Escape

"Come on, one more time!" Tornac said with an encouraging voice.

The boy he was training, a rather long, fourteen-year-old with gray eyes, long dark hair and a scar over the left eye, glared at him, but then he lifted his sword and started to once again perform the advanced series of cuts and blocks that Tornac had showed him an hour earlier. Tornac watched him with the eyes of a hawk; not missing out one single detail of his young pupil's exercise. Some times he stopped him to correct one little mistake – "Not quite so high, do it like this instead!" – but otherwise he just observed. Murtagh had become very skilled over the years that Tornac had been his master.

After a while Tornac held up his hand.

"Ok, that's enough. Good job, Tag!"

The boy gave him a tired smile and lowered the sword. It was a bit long for him, as it was a sword of a grown up man, but Morzan insisted that Murtagh learned to handle a long and heavy blade from young age.

Murtagh opened his mouth to answer, but they were interrupted by a young messenger boy – perhaps ten or eleven years old – who came running with high speed from the castle. He stopped in front of them and bowed as low as he could.

"Lord Morzan wants to meet young master Murtagh in the throne room immediately." He said and looked very proud to have delivered the message.

Tornac smiled at the small boy, and then he turned to Murtagh and gave him a quite worried look.

"Be careful." ha said, but Murtagh just rolled his eyes. As he grew older he had learnt how to not anger the Red Rider, though it didn't always work, and it wasn't like his father would kill him or anything. Maybe hit him or something if he was too cheeky, or use some kind of spell to inflict a bit of pain, but not something more unless he was in a really bad mood, or drunk. Murtagh raised his hand and touched the scar over his left eye carefully, then he turned around and started to make his way towards the castle.

"See you later, Tornac!" he called, and then he started to run. It was not a very good to let Morzan wait.

When he got to the doors of the throne room, he hesitated for a bit, and tried to look calm, then he nodded to the guards, who opened the doors.

Morzan looked up from the letter he had been reading when Murtagh came in, but he did not say anything. Murtagh walked up to him feeling a bit nervous, but he tried to make it seem that he was calm. When he reached his father, he bowed slightly, then he met his father's eyes. The similarity between Morzan and his son was striking. I Murtagh had been a couple of years older and if he didn't have the scar in his face, it would basically be impossible to tell them apart.

"You called for me, father?" He tried to keep the hate he felt for his father out of his voice, but he wasn't sure if he managed it completely or not.

"Yes, I did." came Morzan's cold reply. "I've got a letter from the king."

Murtagh watched him with a confused and rather curious look in his eyes.

"Murtagh, would you like to see the Riders be restored?"

The boy got a shocked glint in his eyes. "Yes, of course. How? There aren't any more eggs, are there?" Tornac had told him that the Riders had created peace and security before the fall, and even if it would not be like back then, it could hardly be worse then it was right now, right?

Morzan met his son's curious eyes and smirked slightly.

"Three dragon eggs are still existing, Murtagh. The Varden stole one of them about eleven years ago, but there are still two in Uru'baen. It is the king's request that you come with me and Odium tomorrow to see if one of them will hatch for you, which I have no doubts on."

Murtagh's expression immediately went from excited to stubborn. Him? A Rider? No way. He didn't even like dragons! He knew Odium, and he had met Shruikan once, and both of them were cruel, demon like creatures. He had no wish of becoming bonded with that sort of monster.

"Wh…" He started, but Morzan interrupted him.

"I will see you tomorrow morning in the dragon hold, at sunrise. Don't be late."

"But I…"

"Dismissed, Murtagh."

"Bu…"

"NOW!"

Morzan got a dangerous look in his eyes, and Murtagh slowly backed away. Morzan didn't break eye contact once, and it was like he was daring Murtagh to speak up against him.

Angrily Murtagh turned away and walked out of the throne room. What was he going to do? After a bit of thinking and arguing with himself, he had made up his mind. With a determined expression on his face he went up to his room to start preparing his plan.

Around midnight, Murtagh got up and grabbed the bag with supplies that he had packed as soon as he had got to his room. Quietly he snuck out of his room and tip-toed down the long corridors of the west wing, where his room where located. Sometimes he had to stop and hide behind something to avoid getting noticed by a servant or a guard, and it really slowed him down more that he would have liked, but he luckily remained unnoticed.

It took some time, but then he managed to get out without getting discovered by using an old passageway that most of the guards didn't know about, and run as quietly as he could down to the stables.

Carefully Murtagh walked to the stall of his horse – a big, black pony called Stormbreaker – and tried to saddle him as quietly as he could. The pony raised his head and neighed happily when he saw his owner, and Murtagh swore when one of the guards who where patrolling outside the stables stopped and turned around to try to discover if anything was unusual, but seemed to decide that nothing was out of order, and kept walking. When the guards footsteps had silenced and he was heading in another direction, Murtagh dared to lead Stormbreaker out of the stables and toward the gates.

Things got harder as he reached the gates. He had to wait until the guards' shifts were over and when they changed them he snuck out, but not without difficulty.

Once he had gotten out and enough far away from the castle to make sure no one would see him, he mounted Stormbreaker and rode into the forest. Under the protection from the trees and the darkness he allowed Stormbreaker to gallop south and take him away from the castle of Morzan.

Murtagh rode the entire night and only stopped to let the horse drink. He had no doubts that Morzan soon would notice that he was missing, and he wanted to get as far away as he could before sunrise.

When the sun rose Murtagh had reached Tüdosten Lake, which meant that he was really close to Surda. He could not decide if it was a good or a bad thing though. If the Surdans found him it would not end good for him, but at the same time Morzan hopefully would hesitate to follow him so close to the Surdan border. An enormous red dragon was easier to spot than a little black horse after all.

As he rode he tried to figure out where he would go. If he continued east to the Beor Mountains, he would be much closer to the Varden then he would like. Morzan would defiantly not follow him there, not when Brom and Saphira, not to mention the rest of the Varden, were so close, but did Murtagh dare to get so close? He really wasn't sure of that. On the other side, if he stayed in the west part of the Boer Mountains, near the end of the Beartooth River, maybe he wouldn't get close to Farthen Dur. According to the maps he'd seen, it was believed to be located far more east.

He decided that he would travel along the Surdan border to the Beartooth River, and then make up his mind on where he would go. While he was there he would at least be safer then if he stayed in the Empire. As long as he managed to stay away from Varden soldiers, he would probably be okay. He had a bow, and he was quite good at hunting, and he could fish in the river. Yes, he would go to the Beor Mountains, it made more sense the more he thought of it.

By midday he had managed to get around the Tüdosten Lake, and as soon as he had spotted a good place to camp by, he fell exhausted from Stormbreaker's saddle and as soon as he hit the ground, he fell asleep.

**A/N Ok, it is a bit shorter than I hoped it would be, but I hope next chapter will be longer!**


	3. Chapter 2

** : Morzan's castle is located between Uru'baen and Tüdosten Lake, so it is not very far to travel. Thank you for the review!**

**Bluetadpole1300: Haha, I hope you got the answer to some of your questions in this chapter. And don't be sorry to say what you think, I want to know!:)**

**Rue bladesinger: Haha, I'll try to update as soon as I can.:)**

**Blodhgarm229: Yeah, I agree, Murtagh is the most awesome character in the books, I don't think I would've read it if it wasn't for him. Thanks for the review!**

Chapter two

_Murtagh P.O.V_

Murtagh had waked up with a bit of a headache, and a little bruise on his forehead. Obviously he had hit his head when he fell of Stormbreaker last day. At the thought of the black pony, he worriedly looked around, and spotted him drinking by the shore of the Tüdosten Lake. Murtagh let out a low whistle, and Stormbreaker lifted his head, the ears pointing straight at his owner. The boy whistled again, and the horse lowly neighed and came trotting to him. The saddle was still on him, and so were the rather heavy saddle bags, which made Murtagh feel rather guilty. He could almost hear Tornac say:

"_Always look after the horse before yourself."_

He quickly removed the saddle and his supplies, and Stormbreaker gave him a grateful glance.

Murtagh brushed the little horse until all the mud from yesterdays hard riding was gone, then he sat down and took out a bit of bread. He hadn't noticed how starving he was until he saw the saddlebags, which were filled with food.

Hungrily he started eating, stopping only to drink a little or offer the horse a bit of the bread.

When Murtagh was done, he stood up and watched what was left of the food with a disappointed look on his face. It would not be anything left in two days.

"My friend, we need to hunt." He said to the horse when he saddled him. The horse snorted, which Murtagh took as an agreement.

The boy quickly mounted the pony and started to head east. Luckily he didn't see anything that could be a dragon in the sky, so he hoped that Morzan searched for him in the Empire instead of the border of Surda.

After about ten minutes of slow riding, Murtagh let Stormbreaker gallop and started to quickly head towards the mountains. Hopefully it would not take more then a week or so to reach the mountain range, and hopefully he would remain undiscovered. He would have to get rather close to Aberon – too close for his liking, but it could not be helped, and he would prefer to get caught by Surdans over the Empire, so he would not get any closer to the Empire then he already was.

**Two weeks later**

_Nasuada P.O.V_

Nasuada glared angrily at Ajihad.

"What? Why can't I go outside Farthen Dur?" she asked, her voice almost trembling with fury. All she wanted to do was to get outside the enormous stone city, Tronjheim, and to breathe some fresh air for once. She wanted to hear the songs of the birds and the wind, and she wanted to feel free of all the responsibility that came with being Ajihad's daughter, just for once. She was thirteen years old – she could take care of her self for thirty minutes or so.

"Because it is too dangerous." came Ajihad's calm reply. "If any soldiers of the Empire find you…"

"Oh come on! How big are the chances that the Empire sends soldiers out here without some of our spies telling us? And Saphira would have noticed them when she was out hunting! And yesterday you said that the Empire was sending the army north, towards Du Weldenvarden!" Nasuada cut him off, and then she looked at him with a begging expression on her face. "Please, please, please!"

"No. You can't go out there on yourself, and there isn't anyone that has time to watch you. Maybe some other time." Ajihad said firmly. "Go and help Arya unpack, she just got back from the elves. I've got a meeting with Brom and Jörmundur; I'll talk to you later."

He turned around and walked away from Nasuada, leaving the thirteen-year-old girl with an upset expression on her face.

Seriously, what was he so afraid of? The Empires army was on the other side of Alagësia, the king was in Uru'baen and Morzan was… somewhere else, she really had no idea. Not around Farthen Dur anyway, she was certain of that. And it wasn't like she wanted to go on a weeklong trip, she just wanted to get outside a little while.

Annoyed she walked towards her room, and when she was inside, she threw herself on the bed and looked up in the ceiling.

Then a thought hit her. Why shouldn't she go out? Ajihad was on a meeting with Brom and Jörmundur – it would probably take hours before they were done. By then she would be back, and no one would ever know she had been gone… It seemed like a pretty good idea to her, and she got up excitedly, then she walked quickly out of her room.

She wanted to run, but forced herself to walk calmly through the city of Tronjheim. Soon she went into the big stables – she didn't want to walk after all – and watched the huge amount of horses in the stables. She had a bit of trouble of choosing, they were all so beautiful, but after a while she picked a chestnut stallion, which wasn't very big and had wonderful brown eyes. With firm moves she saddled the stallion, and led him out of the stabled. No one seemed to think that it was strange – she enjoyed riding and often took a horse out to ride for a while. Quickly the black-haired girl mounted the horse and allowed him to trot down the paved street that led to the exit of Farthen Dur.

Nasuada had explored the city many times and knew it better then most of the people there. One day she had discovered one of the abandoned tunnels that led out in the wild, and she rode excited towards it. Making sure no one spotted her, she snuck in and dismounted the horse. The ceiling was to low for her to be able to ride, so she walked quickly through it and it did not take very long before she and the horse got out of the tunnel and suddenly found themselves in the long valley that lead from the Hadarac Desert to Farthen Dur.

Nasuada looked around herself and then she let out a happy laugh. She was out! She could feel the wind gently touch her skin, hear the water pouring in the Beartooth River, hear the birds sing in the trees.

The girl soon forgot about the time, and found herself riding slowly through the mountains for hours, following the river west and just looked and listened to the world around her. She was completely mesmerised – it had been so long since she was outside.

_Murtagh P.O.V_

After six days Murtagh had reached the mountains, and after another four he had reached the Beartooth River. He had hunted – was it just him, or were the animals a lot bigger here then in the Empire? – and caught a deer, which had kept him alive this far. It was almost nothing left of it though, and he really needed more food, so he took his bow and a couple of arrows and left Stormbreaker at his camp, which had improved a lot since he had first got here. Now he had a campfire and a little and very simple hut. It was not very big, but it at least protected him from wind and rain at night.

Murtagh walked through the mountains, keeping an eye out for any signs of animals. A mark on a cliff here, a wad of fur there. Soon the marks from a rabbit got more and more visible, and it did not take long until he found a little nest in the ground. Then all he had to do was wait for the rabbit to come out.

When the evening came Murtagh headed back to the camp, rather satisfied with the catches he'd made. He had caught three rabbits at the nest, and shot two rather big hawks that had sailed through the sky. He would have food for a couple of more days, it seemed.

When Murtagh came back to his camp Stormbreaker neighed welcomingly at him and Murtagh petted him on the neck for a while, then he sat down and started to make dinner. The food was surprisingly good, given that he never had been very good at cooking.

When he was about to start on the second rabbit – they were not very big – Stormbreaker raised his head and snorted alarmingly. Murtagh froze and listened out in the night. It did not take long before he heard the familiar sound of hooves. And the sound of hooves was coming towards him.

Murtagh swore silently as he quickly ran to Stormbreaker and was just about to mount him as the horse coming towards him became visible in the glow of the fire.

The horse was not very big, in fact it looked more like a large pony then a horse. It was a chestnut, and on the horse's back sat a girl who seemed to be around his age. She had dark skin and long, black hair.

The girl stopped when she saw him, apparently a bit surprised to see him.

"Um… hello, my name is Nasuada. Who are you?" she said with a curious voice.

Murtagh eyed her carefully, then he answered.

"I'm Murtagh. Do you… uhm… want something to eat? You look kinda starving." He said and gestured towards the food over the fire.

It was true, she really did look starving.

Nasuada's lit up when she spotted the food.

"Yes, thank you! I haven't eaten since this morning."

She dismounted the chestnut and tied him to a tree, then she and Murtagh sat down by the fire. He offered her a bit of rabbit, and then they both started eating.

"So… what are you doing out here?" Murtagh asked. He was very curious about this strange girl, and what was she doing in the mountains in the middle of the night?

"Well… I kind of lost track of time and then I got lost, and I couldn't find my way back, and then I saw the light from your campfire, so I rode here. Though you were not quite what I expected to find." she smiled. "What about you?"

"I'm on the run." Came Murtagh's short reply, and the tone he used revealed that he really didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh… I see."

Nasuada eyed him curiously. Who was he? What was he running from? Her eyes wandered up to his face, and she stared at the scar that stretched from his left eyebrow to the cheekbone.

"How… how did you get that?" she asked carefully.

Murtagh glared at her.

"That's personal." he snapped with a rather angry voice.

"Sorry…" she mumbled, then she looked away. She guessed that she couldn't expect him to reveal private things to her right after they met, so she let it go.

Murtagh got up and put what was left of the food in the saddle bags that lay in the little hut, then he looked at Nasuada again and noticed that she was shaking. Hesitantly he walked up to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, accidently touching her as he sat down next to her. "Shit, you're freezing."

Nasuada looked at him and quietly replied:

"Well, I didn't think that I would be outside all night."

Murtagh got up and walked over to the saddlebags again. He soon found what he searched for: a thick horse-blanket that he'd brought for Stormbreaker, and wrapped it around her. Then he sat down next to her in front of the fire.

**A couple of hours earlier**

_Ajihad P.O.V_

Ajihad franticly searched through Tronjheim as he tried to find Nasuada. Where could she be? She was not in her room, not with Arya and not in the places she used to be. Someone had mentioned that she had borrowed a horse from the stables, but not returned it. Could she still be somewhere riding?

Then Brom and Saphira informed him that Nasuada not was inside Farthen Dur, they had searched through the entire place with their minds and didn't find her.

Ajihad was out of his mind with worry. He could not believe she had actually snuck out of Farthen Dur, when he had told her that she should stay inside. Brom tried to calm him down, but it didn't work so well.

When it was confirmed that Nasuada had left Farthen Dur, Ajihad and Brom, accompanied by a group of soldiers who would help them, rode out in the Beor Mountains to find Ajihads lost daughter.


	4. Chapter 3

**Bluetadpole1300: I'm glad you enjoyed it. It probably won't be a romantic pairing between them, but they defiantly be rather close friends in later chapters.**

Chapter three

An hour or two before the sun rose, Ajihad, Brom and the others continued the search for Nasuada. The soldiers searched along the river, while Brom looked for the girl with his mind. It would have been easier if Saphira was with them, she probably would have found her before Brom could, but she was off hunting, and was to far away to reach. Brom gently touched the mind of a young deer a couple of kilometres away, and from the deer's memories he could tell that Nasuada probably was close – the creature had smelled a human not many minutes before. Satisfied he pulled out of the animals mind and continued his search. It did not take long before he could sense her. She was about five kilometres west, not far from the Beartooth River, just outside a small grove, and... it was someone with her? Curiously he moved on from the edge of Nasuada's mind to the other person's, and immediately hit a solid wall. A bit frustrated Brom tried to enter the person's mind – right now he didn't care very much about personal space, since one of his best friend's daughter might be in danger – but on the rather long distance it was almost impossible. All he could make out was that it was a boy – not younger then ten and not older then twenty, but that was it. The Rider quickly pulled out from his mind, and hoped that he would not have noticed it, but he doubted it. If someone was that skilled in protecting his mind, he would know when someone tried to enter it.

"Come on, this way!" he shouted to Ajihad and the rest of the men, and then he turned around his horse and started to ride with high speed towards the place where he had sensed Nasuada.

Murtagh was still asleep, and when he felt something against his mind, which quickly disappeared as fast as it came, he thought that he had been dreaming. He was very tired, since they had been up rather late last night, and the sun hadn't risen yet, so he continued to sleep.

It was not until someone grabbed him roughly on the shoulders and pulled him up that he realised that it was not a dream. Murtagh tried to move, but it didn't work. His arms were held firmly behind his back, and when he tried to break loose someone gave him a rather hard slap in the face.

"Don't move." said the person who held him calmly.

Murtagh looked around himself rather confused and tried to take in what had happened. How did he get into this situation?

About ten men stood around him – well not really around him, but in his camp. Most of them were soldiers who wore the mark of the Varden on their clothes, and one of them, a black-haired, tall and muscular man, looked so much Nasuada that he could not be anyone else then her father. He stood beside the girl and talked to her, and he looked very upset.

Murtagh gulped nervously. Nasuada had not mentioned that she belonged to the Varden. What would they do when they found out who he was? Would they lock him up? Would they kill him? Some horrible thoughts raced through his mind, and he suddenly almost wished that he had stayed in Morzan's castle. _Almost._

Desperately he leaped forward with such force that the soldier who held him let go, and Murtagh quickly dodged under another soldier's extended arm, then he ran towards the little forest.

However, he did not make it very far, before he heard a voice shout:

"_Letta_!"

Murtagh froze, unable to move. A man with grey hair started to walk towards him with one arm raised. A silvery, shiny mark was visible on his palm. Murtagh immediately recognized him. He had seen a lot of pictures and heard a lot of stories about him in the past. The boy's grey eyes met Brom's and if he would have been able to shy away from the Rider, he would have done so.

Brom eyed the boy curiously. Who was this boy, who he had found sleeping in a sitting position, leaning against Nasuada, under the same horse-blanket as her to stay warm? A normal fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy would not have been able to defend his mind like that, and certainly not in his sleep.

As Brom walked closer to the boy he noticed a long scar over the boy's left eye and stopped with a mix of horror and hatred on his face.

"_My four-year-old kid could probably find it!"_

_Brom stiffened. "Kid?"_

"_Yeah, he looks just like me you know! Though he has a scar over his left eye…"_

Morzan's words were as clear in Brom's mind as they had been that day ten years ago. When Brom thought about it, the similarity between the boy and Morzan was absolutely obvious. The Rider moved closer to the boy, then he grabbed him by the collar, and then he realised the spell. The kid immediately tried to move away from him, but Brom held him in a firm grip, and he couldn't break loose.

"Where exactly do you think you are going, Morzansson?" he asked, his voice cold of hate.

By these words, Ajihad, who still was talking quietly to Nasuada, jerked his head up and his eyes expressions switched from surprise to curiosity to coldness. Morzan's son had been alone with his daughter for who knew how many hours? The look Ajihad gave Murtagh made him think about the saying "if looks could kill".

Nasuada gave Murtagh a look of betrayal, and Murtagh lowered his head in shame. She looked so hurt, almost like he had killed someone or something.

Ajihad walked up to Brom and Murtagh, and looked at the young boy with mixed emotions. He truly hated Morzan, and would do anything to bring him down, but at the same time, this wasn't Morzan, but a fourteen-year-old boy. It really wasn't his fault that his father was such a monster. But then again, how could he be sure that the boy was not just like his father? What if he had hurt Nasuada in some way? Ajihad did not know much about this boy and he was not prepared to take any chances with him, so he quickly ordered some of the soldiers to seize the kid and bind him.

Within two hours the group reached Tronjheim. As soon as they had dismounted the horses, Ajihad ordered the soldiers to take Murtagh to the prison, which were located in the bottom of the city. Murtagh tried to resist them, but his hands were tied behind his back and there was not much he could do.

Murtagh avoided the gaze of everyone they met on the way, and tried to ignore their curious glances. Obviously the sight of soldiers dragging a teenage boy towards the prison was not very common in Farthen Dur.

They took him a bit below Tronjheim, and soon they reached the prison part of the city. It was like most other prisons; stone cells, iron bars and bored guards. The guards opened one of the cell-doors and roughly pushed him inside, then they shut it behind him with a loud bang.

Meanwhile, Brom had summoned the most important people in Tronjheim to inform them of the recent events.

Among these people were Arya, the elven ambassador who was also Queen Islanzadí´s daughter, King Hrothgar of the dwarves, his heir Orik and Jörmundur.

Of course these weren't the only powerful people in Farthen Dur, but Brom didn't want the news to come out and, if it reached the ears of a spy, reach the Empire, so he only chose the most important and people he trusted.

When everyone had gathered Ajihad spoke out.

"Well, as you probably know, a soy informed us that the son of Morzan ran away from Morzan's castle about two weeks ago." he said. Most of them nodded, and Ajihad continued.

"This morning, when Brom and I were out searching for Nasuada, we found him."

These words attracted both excitement and confusion. It was only Arya who really seemed to wait for Ajihad to continue rather then bombard him with questions.

The words "how", "where" and "what" were thrown around until Brom raised his hand and said:

"Ok, be quiet for God's sake!"

Slowly the questions faded into silence and Ajihad started to speak once again.

"We found him with Nasuada. Obviously she somehow found her way to his camp."

Arya looked upset. She, like the others, had known Nasuada since she was a little girl, but she had probably been the one that had spent most time with her, since Nasuada had absolutely loved magic when she was little, and Arya was one of the few good magic users in the Varden.

"Is she alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes, she is, and she is in her room right now."

Jörmundur eyed Ajihad with an impatient expression.

"Well? What happened?" he asked.

Brom watched him for a second or two, then he answered.

"He tried to run and I stopped him." he said simply. "The only important thing is that we caught him, and not how."

Ajihad nodded. "Well, we need to decide what to do with him. Though it is a tempting thought, we can't just leave him in the dungeons."

"He would be rather good for blackmail." Orik commented.

Arya nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, that depends on how much Morzan would be ready to give us to get him back." she answered. "Is he worth a dragon egg, or nothing at all?"

Ajihad stood up.

"I'm going to have a little chat with the kid, and then we'll decide what to do with him."

**A/N Ok, I'm not very pleased with this chapter, but I hope you'll enjoy it.:) Any suggestions on what will happen to Murtagh? After the first chapters the plot just don't seem to be so good anymore… Please tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N I'm so sorry that I'm not have been able to update sooner, but here is the next chapter!**

**Thank you for the reviews!**

**And to Kumar LaVoixDuSud: Thank you very much for the help, I really appreciate it!**

Chapter 4

Murtagh sat leaning against the hard stonewall in his cell, hands still tied behind his back, and wore a bored expression on his face. First, he had been really worried, and he still was, but after an hour or two, sitting in the cell doing nothing but thinking got really, really boring. He just couldn't figure out something to do besides sitting there and watch as the guards walked back and forth through the big prison. He had tried to count them, but he soon gave up. There were simply too many of them, and they often shifted places and as some ones took a short break, some new came and he lost count again.

After maybe two or three hours, he heard someone come walking towards him, and he was almost certain it was not a guard – the guards walked in a certain pace, and the person – or persons – that came towards him walked as regular human beings, not guards. The sound of the footsteps came closer, and Murtagh realised that there was at least two people.

The men stopped outside his cell, and now he could see them clearly through the door, which consisted of iron bars. They were bald, and he was sure that they were twins.

They were talking silently to one of the guards, who took out a bunch of keys and unlocked the door. The guard entered the cell and without meeting Murtagh's gaze he bent down, grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him up on his feet. Murtagh eyed the Twins carefully, and they looked back at him with identical smirks. The guard led him out of the cell and Murtagh was about to try to run, but as soon as he got out of the cell he realised that he had no idea how to get out of Farthen Dur. He would be lost in a matter of minutes. A bit annoyed at this thought, he cast an angry look at the Twins, who seemed rather amused.

"Come on, follow us, and don't try to run." One of them said with a threatening voice, which made Murtagh raise an eyebrow. Was he seriously trying to scare him?

Two guards who obviously had appeared while he was focused on the Twins grabbed him by the arms and dragged him forward when he didn't move.

Brom and Ajihad looked up when the Twins came in with the boy. Saphira, who lay lazily beside them, glanced at the two bald men with dislike.

"You can leave." Ajihad said shortly at the Twins and the guards. The Twins looked like they were going to argue, but after a sharp look from Brom they turned around and walked out of the room, followed by the guards.

Murtagh's eyes followed them, and when the door was closed he turned his gaze towards Ajihad and Brom. Brom had an expression of … it wasn't pure hate, but it was some sort of mix between hate, loathing and anger.

Ajihad walked up to the boy and met his gaze.

"Well, let's get straight to the point." He said. "Why were you with my daughter?"

Murtagh refused to break eye contact with the leader of the Varden, and he did not blink once.

"Cause she came riding to my camp in the middle of the night." He answered, rather rudely. "She found me; I couldn't just leave a lost girl in the mountains on her own."

Brom came closer to them.

"And why were you in the mountains in the first place?" The Rider asked with a demanding tone.

Murtagh looked at him like he was stupid. "Because I ran away. Shouldn't you know that, or do you not have as many spies as my father claims?"

Brom gave him an impatient look. "I know you ran away. I want to know why you ran away, and why you went to the Beor Mountains. You must have known that the Varden has its stronghold here." He answered, the voice clearly a bit irritated.

The young son of Morzan watched him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Why should I tell you?" He asked stubbornly.

"Because if you don't, I will take the answer from your mind and I'm sure that is something you would not appreciate." Brom hissed angrily. How the kid reminded him of Morzan when he was younger. The voice, the gaze, the hair and the stubborn tone. It really was just the eye color that that was different.

Murtagh raised his eyebrows. He had pretty good mental defenses, and he should be able to shut Brom out, hopefully. He could easily shut out Morzan's spell casters, but then again, Brom probably was much more powerful than any of them. Well, he could always hope that it would work…

"Go ahead then." Murtagh challenged stubbornly. There was no way he was going to just tell Brom what he wanted without a fight.

Brom eyed him for a second or two, then he reached out with his mind towards the teenager. He, like the last time, hit a solid wall. Brom tried to break through it, but it didn't move. Growling, he pushed harder, and started to look for weaknesses in the boy's defences. To his big annoyance, he didn't find any sort of weakness, and withdrew a little bit from Murtagh's mind. The boy smirked triumphantly.

"**Saphira, can you help me a bit?**" Brom asked the great blue dragoness. There was no way that the boy could keep a fully grown dragon out of his mind, no person could, except maybe the king.

Saphira looked up.

"_Of course._" She immediately answered.

The dragoness let her and her Rider's mind become one, strong and powerful, and then she gently touched the boy's mind. He jerked his head up in surprise and concentrated as hard as he could on his barriers, but when the dragon and Rider together forced their way into his mind, the wall came crashing down. Murtagh could feel Saphira leave his head, and Brom start to sort through his memories. He desperately tried to get his barriers up again, but it did not work, Brom had already gotten in. The memories Brom started to search through flashed before his eyes.

_A three-year-old boy lay on a cold and hard stone floor, blood streaming from an enormous wound on his back, which stretched from his shoulder to the opposite hip. Zar'roc lay on the floor beside him, the blade stained with blood, and somewhere a woman screamed._

_Morzan grabbed a knife that hung in his belt, with a blood-red blade that matched Zar'roc perfectly, and then he bent down and grabbed Murtagh by the collar and lifted him a few feet over the ground. Murtagh shivered in fear and tried to break loose, but Morzan barked "_Letta_!" and Murtagh froze. Quickly Morzan moved the knife forward and cut into the boy's skin, then he realised the spell and let go of Murtagh who fell into the ground with a hard thump, then he left without a word. Murtagh was shaking and when he lifted his head to watch the figure of his disappearing father, a deep, bleeding cut was visible right over his left eye._

"_Would you like to see the Riders be restored?" "Three eggs are still existing, Murtagh." "One of them will hatch for you."_

_Under the protection from the trees and the darkness he allowed Stormbreaker to gallop south and take him away from the castle of Morzan._

As soon as Brom had found the last memory that had flashed before Murtagh's eyes, he withdrew from the boy's mind, leaving Murtagh shaking and gasping for air on the floor. He hadn't even noticed when he fell to the ground.

_Tornac P.O.V_

Tornac moved quickly through the big halls of Morzan's castle when he heard voices talking quietly in Morzan's study, which lay very close to Murtagh's quarters, where Tornac had been on his way to. Even if Murtagh wasn't there anymore, Tornac liked to just be in the room looking for clues, which he knew he would not find, to try to figure out where his missing student was. Tornac stopped dead and tried to hear what they said. He could make out Morzan's voice, but didn't recognize the other person. Tornac was pretty sure it only was two people in the room, but he couldn't be completely certain.

"The Twins told me that he is in Tronjheim." said the unknown person.

"Yes, I'm aware of that." came Morzan's reply. "Durza informed me earlier that the army has started to move towards Farthen Dur."

"Good. Hopefully it will not take more than two weeks for the army to reach the Varden. Join the army when it has crossed the south part of the Hadarac Desert, and when you reach Farthen Dur, make sure to get rid of Brom and Saphira, Durza and the Ra'zac can find the boy and bring him back."

"Yes, your Highness."


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N Thank you all for the reviews. I know that some of you have commented the fact hat Odium has a name in this story, so I just want to make this clear. I am perfectly aware about the banishing of names, but I wanted Odium to have a name in this story, as it seemed so boring to just write "Morzan's dragon". **

**I may not be able to update until next week, I got some stupid essays to write, but if I find some time, I'll write as much as I can.**

Chapter 5

Tornac had left the same evening that he had heard Morzan and the king talk about the attack on the Varden. He had with the skills of a trained spy slinked out in the dark without drawing anyone's attention. Well, maybe it was not very surprising, because that was what he was – a spy. A Varden spy, to be exact. And know he had information that could save the Varden from a complete massacre.

Tornac had stolen the fastest-looking horse he could find in Morzan's stables, and he was pretty sure that he would reach the Varden in a week. He travelled light and fast, only stopping to let his horse drink and to allow himself a few hours sleep on the night. Normally it would just take about five days to cover the ground between the castle and Farthen Dur, but since Tornac had to look out for soldiers and hide from the Empire's guards in every city or village that he passed, the journey took some extra days. One time Tornac was rather close to be discovered, but he managed to escape before anyone noticed him. When he finally arrived, he was let through the hidden gate immediately, and went straight to Brom's study.

_**A week later**_

_Murtagh P.O.V_

Murtagh had noticed that something was wrong the last couple of days. Suddenly the people around him – which were mostly the guards outside his cell - seemed nervous and tense, and neither Ajihad nor Brom had bothered to come to visit him or bring him to them, which Murtagh found most strange. Were they just going to leave him in the cell to rot, or had something happened?

On the other hand, Murtagh was rather grateful that he was being left alone. The memories of how easily Saphira broke his mental barriers and how Brom went through his childhood memories was something he really wanted to forget, and something he didn't want to experience again.

Then, suddenly, something changed. It was in the middle of the day when he heard a trumpet sound. Far away, on the streets of Tronjheim, came furious battle cries.

Murtagh looked around himself, and saw that most of the guards had left the prison. No, not most of them, _all _of them. The prison was empty, except himself and the rest of the prisoners. The boy then heard quick, light footsteps coming towards his cell. When the footsteps silenced the sound of rattling keys filled the air. The heavy cell door opened and there stood Nasuada.

The young girl smiled at Murtagh, and he quickly got up on his feet.

"What's going on?" he asked curiously, and started to walk towards the exit of his cell.

Nasuada moved out of the way and let him out. "We're getting attacked." she answered shortly. "Come on, we must hurry. The Shade and the Ra'zac are looking for you, I heard Father talk about it last night."

Murtagh stopped. "Attacked? By the Empire? They sent a Shade after me?"

The boy stared at her with a disbelieving expression on his face.

"Yes, on all of the questions. Come on, we got to go. Or do you want to go back to the Empire with your father?"

Murtagh glanced at her, then he started walking again. "Well, rather be stuck with the Varden than go back there…"

Nasuada nodded. "I hoped that you would say that. And if we are getting out there, you need a sword." She pointed at the door and continued. "If the Shade or the Ra'zac does find us, you can't be defenceless."

Murtagh raised his eyebrows. "A sword? Where exactly will I find a sword? Sadly enough, they don't seem to be just lying around in this place."

The girl gave him a mischievous smile.

"I thought about that. I kind of snuck into Brom's quarters last night… And I found this!"

She pulled her cloak aside and revealed a red sheath. Nasuada then drew the sword inside and handed it to Murtagh, who eyed it carefully. The sword was truly beautiful. The hilt was rather short and wrapped with silver wire. The blade itself was blood red and had a black symbol on it. Its pommel was tear-drop shaped, set with a ruby the size of a small egg. Murtagh knew this sword. Its one-handed hilt matched his hand perfectly, and it felt like the sword has been made for him.

The boy's eyes moved to the symbol on the blade. It was that symbol that was most familiar. It was the Ancient Language, and that was a symbol that he knew by heart since the time that he had got the long scar on his back. It was the symbol that meant _Zar'roc_, _Misery_.

Murtagh stared at the sword. It felt so right to wield, and at the same time so horribly wrong. It was his father's sword, which had taken so many lives, and had brought nothing but pain and sorrow. And it felt so perfect at the same time, like the sword was an extension of his arm.

"Come on, we got to go!" came Nasuada's impatient voice.

_Brom P.O.V_

Brom had been planning the battle in detail as soon as Tornac has knocked on his door a week ago. Well, as much as you can plan in detail – battles had an irritating ability to not develop as you wanted it to develop.

The Rider sighed and walked towards his beautiful, blue dragoness. Saphira made a low, purring sound and watched him with her wide, intelligent eyes as he started to saddle her. Every inch of Saphira's beautiful scales, except for the wings, nose and stomach was covered by her armor.

As soon as the dragoness was saddled, Brom mounted and drew Undbitr. Saphira opened her mouth and let out a hot stream of blue fire and took of.

The dragon and her Rider had sailed through the air and helped their army where it was necessary for about 15 minutes when a mighty roar echoed through the mountain. Saphira turned around in the air so quick that she almost lost complete control over her body. The sapphire blue dragoness watched silently as her ruby rival rose into the air.

Morzan drew his sword and Saphira growled.

Both of the dragons raced through the air against each other, and crashed together with a loud bang. Saphira howled silently as Morzan-dragon-traitor-Odium clawed her nose. She responded with giving him a hard blow with her long, spiked tail.

Brom and Morzan exchanged hard, powerful blows. Both of them were looking for an opening in the other ones defence, but no one seemed to find anyone. They were both skilled and experienced – no one of them seemed to make a mistake. They continued like that for a while, blocking, parrying and cutting, until Odium's strong jaw closed around Saphira's neck. Saphira was thrown out of balance as she twisted her body to get loose, and so were Brom for a couple of seconds. That was all Morzan needed to gain the upper hand, even if it was just barely. Saphira and Odium slowly sunk towards the ground, as neither of them had much strength left. Saphira was bleeding from were Odium had bitten her on the neck, and her spiked tail had opened two deep wounds on his side. When they had landed Brom had received a cut on his right shoulder. It was not very deep, but painful, and it stopped him from moving his arm as much as he used to do.

As soon as the dragons had landed, both Riders quickly dismounted and continued the fight. Brom's injury prevented him from parrying as strongly as he needed, and it did not take very long until it was clear that Morzan was going to win the fight. Though Brom did not give up, and fought until Morzan knocked him down.

When Brom fell to the ground Morzan smirked with a very satisfied expression. Brom followed his every move as the Red Rider raised his sword to do the final strike.

Then Morzan froze, sword still raised over Brom, and the satisfied expression changed to shock. A beautiful, blood red blade stuck out from Morzan's chest.

With one last breath the Red Rider collapsed on the ground.

**A/N I hoped that this chapter would be longer, but sadly, it didn't.**


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